Saturday, April 14, 2012

Oh What a Week! My Kids are awesome!

Bart is coming home tonight and I"m so glad. It's been a very productive week and I"m super grateful that I've had the strength to do what needed to be done. Let me rehash it for you... and for the record..

Left Monday morning at 5 with Bart, Leon and Sadie. We drove to the airport and dropped off Bart, had breakfast, and then drove up to the see the outside of a house we might rent, the outside of the house, and the outside of the two schools in the district where we hope to move. I brought them home and took them back to school by 11 so that I could get a nap and some hours in for work. I am trying to make myself available to the kids to talk about stuff so I spend Monday night during supper and afterwords. Rand made dinner.

Tuesday morning I left at 8 with Tony after dropping kids off for school. We were gone until 4:00. The Job Corp interview took 2.5 hours. We came home, his decision made that he's going to Wisconsin either before June 1 or on July 18th. He's pleased with his decision and was so excited about it that he now has Sadie interested. Again, evening spent frantically putting work hours in, having dinner with the kids (that Rand prepared) and trying to keep them on an even keel.

Wednesday morning I left at 8 and drove to my office, an hour from here, spending the morning working on files and the afternoon at 3 separate home visits. I got home around 7:30 and then had pie with Sadie after she got off work where she solidified her decision to pursue Job Corp. The kids got their own dinner.

Thursday I actually spent the day at home, working on job stuff and then babysitting Isaac and making sure there was dinner on the table with the help of Rand and Jimmy.

Yesterday I left at 6:30 a.m., drove 2.5 hours, taught for 6.75 hours, left for a meeting that ended at 5:45 and was home by 7:30. The kids got their own dinner. I was in bed by 8:45 completely exhausted. I was not feeling well at all last night.

I slept almost 12 hours... which is a lot, but woke up with a back ache (too much driving? too much sleeping? too much stress?) a headache (too much everything) and a a full day ahead. Isaac is coming for 2 hours after which we are leaving at 2 to head to my office (I have to get things ready for a day of coordinating files with a bunch of volunteers on Tuesday) and then up to the Cities for the fourth time this week. Jimmy and Dominyk (and possibly Wilson) will be coming to see the neighborhood, the church, and the school Dominyk is interested in (You can see it here and if you aren't on my facebook where you've seen the answer you can guess what he is most excited about (and if I've told you the story you are disqualified as well, KARI).

We will have dinner out and then pick up Bart at 9:00 p.m. to drive home and fall in bed exhausted again.

I feel really good about much of what we have accomplished this week. Several of the kids feel good about plans for next year. We have gotten some sorting and decluttering done in the midst of everything. The kids were able to get themselves off to work and school without me three days this week. Now THAT is amazing. They have helped with meals all week long. They have kept the house fairly clean and not argued much. There is only one broken window after all the hours they have spent unsupervised.

This might not be a huge accomplishment for most groups of 7 teenagers/young adults ages 13-23... or maybe it is ... but it is awesome for my group. They have stepped up to the plate and I'm proud of them.

Now back to the paperwork and emails that need to be done before I leave today. If only this head would stop pounding....